Thursday, October 23, 2008

The winner of the bag give away was drawn this afternoon. Congratulations Drewzel the bag is all yours. Just pop me an email with your address and I shall send it on its way tomorrow before work. A huge thank you to all who posted, I very much appreciate your lovely comments and thank you for making me smile.

I'm a Brisbane girl through and through, I have never lived anywhere else. In fact I work in the same hospital I was born in. Very boring I know. I don't do change well. I have always loved when the storms roll through Brisbane. I love the change in the air and the relief from the suffocating humidity. The photo above was taken from my deck on Tuesday afternoon. We were all tucked up inside when the lightning came so its only of the dark clouds as the came across.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

On Sunday morning I had the most wonderful pleasure of being contacted by McHats a Sydney estian via an Etsyconvo. Sue (McHats) is an absolute delight and extremely generous. Sue made my Sunday. If you are looking for a hat pattern she has some beautiful and classic patterns for sale. I can't wait to one out when I can find the time.

The lovely badskirt has this great post about her first market experience. There are some great tips here and oh so nice of her to share.

Not so much crafting happening at Little Mary Moo's Place due to a phenomenal amount of ironing that has been lovingly created by the little Moos.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my give away post. I came home to three over tired very cranky and just more than a wee bit naughty girls last night. To top it off I had a bit of a crap day at work. So thank you all for putting a smile on my face . Much appreciated. I'm currently having a disagreement with my sewing machine so I'm hoping that a warm cup of tea and some nice company on the crafty blog scene will fix all my woes.

These pictures are of my littlest. They were taken down at the local creek when we were catching tadpoles. They had so much fun. I was sitting a fair distance away with the zoom on so I could catch the excitement and the giggles. These photos are some of my favourite. Looking at them again reminds me that the girls can be so much fun and the grumps do pass.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

In the spirit of all things lovely and nice in the crafty blogosphere here is my first give away. She's a simple tote bag made with a soft red stripped stretchy denim. Inside is lined with a crisp white cotton. The front of the bag features a pocket made from Kokka's Doll fabric. There is a small magnetic clasp in the facing at the top.

I will be drawing a winner randomly on the 23rd of October 2008. All you have to do to be eligible for the draw is to leave a comment about what made you smile today - hopefully something you are grateful for. Please make sure I can contact you through a link when you comment just in case the winner is you.

Ok what made me smile today was a crazy dog I saw when I went to pick up my groceries. He was having a lovely roll in something that was probably very smelly while the poor girl walking him was trying in vain to pull him away. I was grateful that I have one dog who is to lazy to go for a walk and another who is to manic to take out in public because I am sure one of them would of done exactly the same to me.

In the latest issue of Frankie I was thoroughly intrigued by the "365 grateful" article. The article featured photographer Hailey Bartholomew's Polaroid photos that she takes everyday of what she is grateful for. Her 365 Day's a Grateful pictures can be found here as well as others from the group. Definitely beautiful viewing and well worth a peek.

I would love to try this kind of project and it is definitely on my list of things to do. I know there is plenty of inspiration out there. Maybe just adding some of by gratefulness to my blog would be at least a start. In the spirit of Blogtoberfest, I am most grateful to the most lovely Big Cat's Emporium for hosting such a fun event. I'm am very much a Blogtoberfest wall flower (story of my life) and I love to sit back at watch and listen. Through Blogtoberfest I am very much grateful to find the following wonderful crafty blogs:

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Look at the great note book I picked up this morning from Jellygnite's shop on etsy. This is just perfect for my youngest moo who is doing dinosaurs at school this term. It will be great for her to take on her trip to the museum for drawings and little notes. Just like the pirate theme we don't have many dinosaurinspiredparaphernalia, so this will be fantastic. It will also be nice to put away and keep for her when she is older so she can look back at what she wrote and drew when she was six.

Today I'm taking the girls shopping for their summer clothes, hopefully we won't have to many disagreements about choices in clothes. Maybe find somewhere nice for lunch too. I love a girls day out.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

I adore the Matryoshka Dolls fabric by Kokka. These are two bags I have made over the last few days with some new fabric from Kelani Fabric. Matryoshka Dolls fascinated me as a small child (they still do to be honest).

Frank from the Softies for Mirabel auction arrived at our house yesterday. He is very loved as hasn't had a quite moment since his arrival. He has even been taught how to do back flicks. Is there nothing Frank is not capable of!

This was meant to be my Blogtoberfest post for yesterday but last night as much as I tried blogger wouldn't let me post, so here it is a little late.

My girls adore Aunty Cookie fabric. My eldest is especially fond of the fabric and will spend ages looking at all the Cookies. Perfect for a ten year old'ssense of humor. Below is a little mobile phone pouch I made the other morning for my eldest. I just can't believe she has her own phone sometimes as I was well in my twenties before I got my first phone. She has been very sensible though and has kept it for necessities. In three months she has only spent two dollars worth of credit (got to love pre-paid).

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Look what arrived in the post for me today to add to my stash. I brought this fantastic fabric from summersville on etsy. It is wonderful and vibrant, I can't wait to use it. Lucie's shop is beautiful and well worth a visit.

There is many a Nan, Gran or Aunt who will tell you that there is many a crafting activity to be done with the humble face washer. I was the recipient of many a crochet around the outside face washer at Christmas time as a kid. I have to admit, I do have a love for face washer craft and this is my fave:

The drink bottle cover!

I do love these very much as the days get hotter in Brisbane. The girls go to school with frozen drink bottle and these covers absorb all the condensation on the outside of the bottles so their books and Vegemite sandwiches don't end up wet and festy. The great thing about them is they are super quick to sew and can be thrown in the wash for a quick clean and be nice and fresh (unlike anything else that goes to or from school) for the next day. Below are my somewhat dodgy instructions for making your own if you so wish a bit of face washer crafting.

Choose a face washer, I made a bit of an incorrect choice with this one (it was the only new one I had). You are better of choosing one that isn't too thick around the edges for easier sewing and so it sits nice and neat on its bottom. Sew a wee hem around the top edge of about 2 - 2.5cm should do nicely.

Pin together with the good sides facing each other like above. Sew a seam commencing at the folded edge at the bottom all the way to the start of the hem at the top.

Make sure to stop here so the two gaps at the top of the hem remain open for the tie to go through.

While the face washer is still inside out, take the corner where the folded edge is and pull to make a triangle to square off the bottom. Pin in place. Do the same with the opposite end of the bottom seam .

Sew a small seam about 1.5cm from the edge across to secure the triangle.

The seam should look like this when completed.

Now turn the face washer the right way out and the bottom should then appear nice and squared off like above.

I just had some cotton tape available today but you could use a pretty cord or ribbon if you wished. Just pop what ever you are going to use for a tie through the top. You can just tie off at a length just a little longer than what it takes to go through the top.

The face washes scrunches around the tie really well and will hold its form nicely around the top. Easy peasy hey! All you need to do now is pop in your frozen drink bottle and off you (or the kids) go. The cover will hold a bottle up to 750ml. Maybe you could even make a face washer stubby cooler for the man in your life(or maybe not I think!).

There are some super cute face washers out there so give it a go. I've shared my favourite face washer craft, so what's yours?

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Above is a picture of my dog Lilly yesterday afternoon. It was one of those moments you know you just have to grab the camera (lucky it was in easy reach of stash shooting). It is not the best photo in the world because I had to snap it through the glass door so I didn't wake her up. She was sound asleep with her paw wrapped around her teddy. Both my dogs adore their teddies. There shall be no more sleeping today though because after her marathon nap yesterday afternoon she spent the entire night barking at anything or anyone who came within 50 metres of the house. Needless to say I am a touch cross with her this morning after very limited sleep.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Above is the little selection of fabric I received from Tokyo Mommy on etsy. They are very sweet little prints on a canvas cotton. Just lovely for making purses and the likes. These were a great addition to my stash for the smaller projects.

Friday, October 3, 2008

Common discussions I have with my sewing machine: "damn, bugger, bugger, bugger, gee whiz, crap, crap, crap, why did I do that...." That is the G rated discussion, there are some more colourful discussion I have with my sewing machine when the kids aren't in hearing range.

Just a little post to joining in Blogtoberfest at Big Cat's Emporium. I shall try and blog everyday for October, I don't know how successful I will be.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

A few months ago I was very, very lucky to go to the Hearts of Africa fabric sale that was held in Albion in Brisbane at Hayes Upholstery. All the fabric was donated and then sold off. My favourite pieces are below. What a bargain they were selling most of the fabric for 40c a piece. I can't remember the last time I paid 40c for anything let alone pieces of designer fabric. There was some real gems amongst all the fabric and some of it was several metres in length. The most I paid was $2.00 for several meters of black canvas. I was a little possessed and the sale far outweighed my expectations for I was very unprepared. My poor girls were each sat down and piled with my finds. I did manage to find them several hours later after a bit of digging. If there is ever another sale I shall have a Nanatrolley in hand.

This fabric above is my absolute fave. It is screen printed in the UK and has beautiful names like "Katie". Each piece is about 1.5 metres in length. I'm thinking of market totes for these ones if I can ever convince myself to cut it.

(The container full of finds, lucky it is on wheels because it is much to heavy to lift)